Healing
by Gingerstorm101
Summary: Post 17x02. Ziva and the team track down the last of the Splinter team that is after her on US soil. Tiva
1. Chapter 1

"I got a GPS signal, Headly and Bruins are at Tom's Junkyard." Kasie says over the phone hastily. Gibbs thanks her and McGee hangs up the phone as Gibbs speeds up.

"What is the plan Gibbs?" Ziva asks, leaning forward in the middle seat so her head was between the boss and senior field agent.

Gibbs is quiet as he thinks of a plan, it wasn't until Torres' "Boss?" comment that he finally says something.

"Bishop and I will go around to the west, McGee and Torres will go around to the east. I trust that if you go by yourself, you can take the south without getting caught?"

Ziva scoffs. "Oh please, you know me better than that."

McGee is about to say something when his boss cuts him off. "Just don't get yourself captured Ziver." No one notices the pain in his eyes, but she knew it was there.

"They're still there." Kasie says with an update 30 minutes later. The team gathers around the trunk to pull on their bullet proof vests when Ellie notices a problem.

"Gibbs, there's only four vests in here, one of us is going to be without protection." Gibbs sighs, handing his vest over to Ziva.

"Here, take it."

Ziva gives him a questioning look. "No Gibbs, keep it. I have worked without one for years and not been killed. I will be fine. You need it more than I do."

The team stares at the confrontation between the father and daughter, but they choose not to say anything.

"Please Gibbs." Ziva asks one last time, pushing the vest into his chest. "I can't lose you too."

He gives her a look, one that screams that she better be careful with herself. One that says he can't lose her again. Neither one loses eye contact with the other, each vowing that they will not die today. And with that, everyone gets ready.

When Gibbs makes the signal, the team leaves the car, drawing their guns, and splitting up.

Ziva ducks down low and makes her way to the back of the yard. She sees the two men they are looking for, along with three other men with them. This was the team that's been tracking her down ever since she got onto American soil again, trying to out her to her enemies that could decide to go after her. It was time she was going to end them so she could be free. So her value to them would be useless.

Into the earwig, she tells the team, "I count five of them."

"_Expect them to be carrying." _Gibbs' voice says over the ear piece.

Taking one last look, not spotting any more, she slowly makes her way to the back. She only has to sit with her gun drawn for a moment when she heard Gibbs shout from the other side of the clearing. "NCIS, put your hands up!" On cue, Ziva charges towards the clearing, her gun trained on the largest man of the bunch.

One of the men spots her and starts yelling. "It's her! She's here!" Ziva instantly aims her gun at him and the man pulls out his own gun, but before he has a chance to shoot, she double taps his heart. Before the body hits the floor, the four men pull out their guns.

The fire fight starts.

She swerves through the commotion, just missing each of the outsourced surveillance team for the splinter terrorist group. These were the last of the people who could give away her location, who would sell her out to any group in the world. This was it. This was the end of any connection to Sahar, even after months of her being dead. Ziva can finally live her life again.

A shot goes off to her left and she feels sudden burning but ignores it. She turns to where the sound came from, spotting a young man hidden behind some old tires. She aims and gives off one shot, shooting him between the eyes, killing him.

Behind her, a man charges, his hands covered in blood. "ZIVA!" Ellie shouts, firing her gun at the large man. She spins on her heels till her gun was trained on his chest. He continues to charge for her, not slowing with each bullet digging into his back. Shocked that he's not faltering, she hesitates. It takes her a blink of an eye to bring her back to the moment, with only a meter in front of her, she shoots him in the chest and he finally falls. Only, he lands on top of her. Ziva yells out, dropping her gun beside her, staring into the cold dead eyes of the large henchman.

"ZIVA!" Gibbs yells to her once the gun shots stop. She turns her head, her vision blurring, to see Gibbs and McGee running to her. She pushes the man off her body, grunting as the burning in her stomach intensifies. "Ziva!" He yells again, helping to pull the body off of her. She takes a large gasp of air as she gets free.

Together, the two agents help her to her feet, wavering she leans on McGee for support. "Are you okay?" He asks. She nods, glancing over at the body behind her.

Gibbs cups her cheek, looking down at her bloody clothes. "Is this all his blood?"

She nods again, glancing over at Ellie and Torres, both whom were walking her way with their guns in their holsters. "Yes, Gibbs." She confirms even though she has a strong sense that she was going to throw up any second now. She gulps down that feeling, placing her hand on her stomach, and winces in pain.

McGee looks down at her when she flinches, watching her hand as she pulls it back. "There can't be that much fresh blood of his on you." He says, but she can hardly hear him. He was faint, Gibbs' face in front of her was becoming harder to see.

She barely makes out the words "I made a mistake" before she falls unconscious into McGee's arms.

She throws herself into a sitting position with a gasp, finally able to breathe again, and thankfully, the burning pain was gone. She looks around her, no longer was she in the clearing at the junkyard, but she was at her childhood bedroom. The same one Tony met her in over six years before.

"Ziva, _ahuvati_, aren't you going to come out and say hello?"

Ziva's heart stops at the voice. One she hasn't heard in nearly two decades. "Ima?" Slowly she lifts herself from the bed and makes her way to the door of her childhood bedroom. She peeks into the living room, her eyes widen at the sight. Before her was her mother, years younger than when she last saw her, kneeling before a three year old Ziva with a bundle in her arms.

The young girl looks down at the tiny white blanket, curiosity in her eyes. "Ima, who is it?"

Her mother laughs softly. "Oh _ahuvati_, this is Ima's baby."

"From Ima's tummy?"

"_Ken ahuvati_." She tells the young one. "Her name is Tali, and she is your baby sister."

Stepping closer, Ziva watches her younger self play a hand on the baby's clothed head. "Tali…"

"Can you make me a promise, Ziva?" Rivka asks her daughter.

"_Ken Ima_."

"Promise me that you'll protect your sister, you'll protect Tali, for as long as you can?"

"_Ken Ima,_ I will protect Tali forever and ever."

Ziva watches from her bedroom, her heart beating rapidly from her hiding spot.

"Breaks your heart, doesn't it, sister?"

Ziva reaches from her gun, only to find she doesn't have it, and turns around to find the last person she was expecting to see. "Tali?" The teenager smiles at her from her bed, her legs crossed up on the covers. "Wha- what are you doing here?"

Her little sister smiles at her, rocking back and forth. "Why I have come to see you, of course!" Ziva looks her sister over, the innocent little girl she was before she died was present on her face. No cuts, no gashes, no lifeless eyes. It was the sister she remembers, the Tali she loves.

"Am… Am I _dead_?" She gulps, looking over her shoulder to find her mother has disappeared.

Tali doesn't answer her question, instead she unfolds her legs and walks over to her, her eyes soften. "You grew up, dear Ziva." Ziva lifts her hand to reach for her face, but hesitates. The young girl takes a step forward, lifting Ziva's hand with her own, and places it on her cheek. "I'm here." She whispers. "I'm really here."

"I miss you, every day."

She smiles, looking up into her eyes. "I have been watching over you, saw your accomplishments, your angst, your happiness. Your _daughter_. In which, I got to say, quite honoured to have my name carried on."

"You do not mind?" She whispers, feeling her throat starting to catch.

Tali places her hand on her sister's cheek, stroking it. "Not at all." Ziva presses her head to her sister's, missing this closeness that the two of them shared, the secrets they never kept from one another. "I have watched Tali her whole life. She is happy with her Abba, but she still misses her Ima." Suddenly Tali lets out a laugh, shaking her head. "I still cannot believe you are an Ima!" Ziva feels her eyes start to well up. "Last time I saw you, you were getting ready to go on a mission for our own Abba."

The tear runs down her cheek. "I lost you that day. Our father still wanted to see if I could go undercover. Instead…" Ziva's eyes harden at the memory. "Instead I went after the people who murdered you. I vowed to avenge your death. As I vow I will protect my daughter."

"And you have." Tali whispers, wiping away the tears. "You have protected your daughter from the harms of evil."

"But I have failed." Fresh tears well up in Ziva's eyes. "I have died. I will never see my daughter again."

'_Ima!'_

"No you have not, dear Ziva."

"_Ima!"_

"Tali?"

Her sister takes her hand into hers, holding it up to her chest. "_Mazal tov laakhoto hayeqarah_."

"_Ima!"_

"Tali!" Ziva says with a gasp.

The grasp of Tali's hand on hers, she holds on tight. "Ziva?" Suddenly she's aware of where she was. No longer was she in her childhood bedroom with her baby sister. But she was in a hospital room. She looks over to the one beside her, staring deep into green eyes. Her mouth moves to say something, but suddenly it's too dry. "You're awake."

Her eyes wide, she watches as he brings her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. Finally, she's able to get a single word out.

"Tony?"

He smiles. "It's good to see you." She looks him over, noticing how much he's aged in the years they've been apart. Watching her family from a distance keeps her from noticing small details as such.

She works on wetting her mouth, glancing over to see a glass of water beside him. Without saying a word, he parts a hand from hers and gives it to her, letting her drink it through the straw.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" She whispers weakly.

He touches her cheek with one hand and holds her hand against his cheek with the other. "I guess I couldn't live without you." His words echo in her mind, taking her back to that unforgettable day all those years ago. "I didn't think you were dead. I had that feeling, not to mention the clues. I never saw you, but I never gave up hope."

Ziva raises her fingers, brushing her fingers against his lips. "Tony, I am sorry. I-I-"

"I should be angry with you. I want to yell at you, ask you how you could keep my own daughter from me. But seeing now, knowing that you have been kept from your own daughter. Our daughter. I couldn't yell at you for that. We've both been kept apart from her, and from each other."

"Tony…" She feels the tears well up in his eyes. "I am so sorry."

He opens his mouth to say something when the door opens to the private room. Breaking eye contact, the two look over to the nurse that walks into the room. "Ms. David, it's good to see you awake dear." Tony drops her hand on the bed and takes a step back to let the nurse see to his friend.

The nurse closes the curtain and checks all her vitals before pulling her blanket back. Tony takes the queue. "I, I'll just step out…" He says, pointing to the doorway. Neither one say a thing as he leaves the room.

Still drugged, Ziva watches him leave before her eyes were averted to the nurse as she lifts her gown, only to show the bandage on her stomach where she was shot. "You were very lucky Ms. David, the doctors were able to stitch you up nice and good."

"I should have been quicker." Ziva mumbles, looking down at the bloody bandage. The nurse works on placing a fresh one on, cleaning her up. "I could have lost everything today because of it."

"But you were not alone, Miss. You had someone looking out for you."

Ziva catches her eye. "I did."

The nurse leaves a few minutes later and Tony walks in. "I talked to the boss, he agreed to let us talk. A real talk, Ziva." He walks over and sits at her hip, careful to not pull on the sheets covering her stomach.

"Where is Tali?" Ziva asks after many moments of silence.

Tony smirks. "I was wondering when that question was going to come up. She's with Palmer and Victoria. Our girls are about the same age, so whenever we come to DC, the girls have a sleepover." Ziva's heart swells. "Do you want to see a picture of her?" She opens her mouth to say something, but second guesses herself and closes her mouth and nods.

She didn't expect him to have the photos open so quickly, she would even suspect that he already had them open, ready to show her.

"Here." He says softly, holding the phone up to her. Before her eyes was her not-so-little girl. Her throat hitched when she saw her outfit. "I put her into ballet when she was showing interest in dancing." He let out a short laugh. "She would take me to the piano and just say '_muziqah_', so I'd just… play whatever song came to mind. Tali would just sing and dance." He looks down at the picture. "I thought of you, and what you wanted to do before your training… So I did it, I put her in classes." He turns her head to look at her. "And she loves every minute of it. This photo was taken after her first recital."

Ziva smiles up at him. "You are a wonderful father, Tony."

"Half the time I don't know what I'm doing. I just go with the flow and try not to do what my own father did." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a worn piece of paper that has some dried blood on it. "Gibbs' pulled this out of your pocket before the ambulance arrived at the scene. I noticed someone in the background." He gave her the look. "You couldn't keep away."

"No I couldn't. I have thousands of these photos. All of them with you and Tali in the background in Paris."

"Why didn't you say 'hi'?"

"I was being watched… Hunted. I couldn't put your life into jeopardy. I kept you in the dark, and I didn't want to hurt Tali's feeling all over again by leaving. It was hard enough the first time."

"They are gone now."

She reaches out for him, taking forearm in her grasp. "Yes they are."

"And?"

"And I can come home… If you'll have me?"

He leans forward, placing his hand on her cheek, stroking her lips. She raises her hand from his arm and places it on his chest. He rests his forehead on hers and whispers. "Do you promise you're done running?" She closes her eyes, raising her hand to his cheek.

"Yes."

"Then, please, come home with me."


	2. Chapter 2

Bored is an understatement. She has been awake and lying in this bed for nearly ten hours now and she wants to do nothing more than leave this hospital. Tony and the doctors have explained to her multiple times that she had spent two days asleep after her surgery, and she needs to be monitored before going home. Wherever home was that is.

Tony had given her a kiss, telling her that he'll be right back. Ziva can't help but smile at the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her, and the way he had sat with her during the time she was under. He was finally with her again. They may not be officially together, but they were together nonetheless. They are one again.

She shifts her position on the bed, and flinching when she feels a twinge of pain in her stomach. It shouldn't hurt, she went through labour and that was a lot more painful than this. But this was a deep sharp pain that she's never felt before. As soon as she settled into her pillow, the pain became dull, and she soon forgot about it.

She looks around the room, before setting her eyes on the door, waiting for her man, _god, her man_, to return to her. She lets out a large yawn, blinking quickly, and soon falls asleep in her hospital bed.

When Ziva woke up again, Tony was in the room with her, sitting beside her bed with the chair pulled up and his socked feet resting next to her feet. She blinks her eyes a few times to make sure she was actually seeing what was before her. There was Tony. Reading. A book. Not a magazine. What happened to him?

She watches him read, taking in every twitch of his brow, the lifting of his lip before his jaw tenses. It must be a good book if he hadn't noticed her awake yet.

"Good book, Tony?"

The grin on her face widens when he jumps and fumbles his novel. "Ziva!" Getting a steady hand on the paperback, he places it down on the table beside her bed. "Hey Ziva, how're you feeling?" She doesn't answer him as he reaches out and cups her cheek. Oh how she has missed this. Missed him. Closing her eyes, she hums as she leans into his touch. "The doctor says you can be discharged in a couple days. I tried for earlier, knowing how much you hate it here, but they won't give."

"They won't give what, Tony?" Her brows furrow, surely they wouldn't give her any more medication? She was already high as a kite on these things as it were. But the smile on his face makes her heart leap for joy.

"They won't let you, no matter how much we ask." He says softly, using his other hand to pull hers towards his mouth. Moments pass without a word, just Ziva staring longingly into her partner's eyes, hoping that this isn't a dream. That she isn't dead after her accident. "I have some good news."

"Oh?" She raises a brow. What other kind of good news was there? She already had her partner back, the one true man she's ever loved, and her daughter was healthy and safe.

He gives her wrist a kiss. "That final group you and the team had tracked down, the ones with connections, Gibbs gave me a call to tell you that they've all been killed. They were the last of them. You're free."

_You're free._

She's free.

After seven years, she's finally free.

The knot grows larger in her throat, unable to swallow as her lip starts to quiver. She didn't even realize she was crying until Tony became a blur right before her eyes. She tries so hard to speak, to say 'I am free' but nothing more than a whimper leaves her lips.

She is free.

Tony leans forward, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, and gently moves her wires and tubes out of the way. She doesn't take her eyes off of him as he pulls himself up onto the bed beside her, pulling her into a hug. She holds her breath as she shifts on the bed, making space for him. The pain wasn't as sharp as it was before, but it did hurt still. Once the two of them were settled, Ziva rested her head on his chest, where she knew she belonged, and he rested his head on top of hers.

Ziva closes her eyes, finally content. But she knew something was missing. Her daughter. She knew that she didn't want Tali to see her in the hospital, but Tony was spending so much time here with her, that she wondered how worried her daughter must be to be away from him after seeing him almost every day since before she turned two.

"Tony?" She asks after half an hour of silence.

"Hm?" He doesn't move from his spot, but his fingers play with the hem of her shirt sleeve.

She rolls her head back, he lifts his own, and their eyes meet, the love in his eyes meeting hers. "Can you…? Do you…?" He blinks slowly down at her, encouraging her to go on. "I want to see Tali. I need to know if she remembers me." She knew he could see the pain her eyes the moment she spoke. Would Tali know her? Remember her? Her heart sinks at the thought of being a complete stranger to her nearly six year old daughter.

His eyes crease with worry, the wrinkles admitting his age. "Of course, my love."

She settles back down onto his chest, but she could no longer close her eyes. Anxiety plagued her mind as she went over all the different ways she could possibly meet her daughter again. She couldn't sleep until exhaustion consumed her, nor did she feel Tony get up and leave the room to make a phone call a few hours later.

Tony sits on the bench outside of the hospital, letting out a few deep breaths as he leans over his phone, ready to dial his friend. He knew Ziva was worried, her silence was obvious to the fact.

He had to wait until she had fallen asleep before he made the forthcoming phone call. He wants the best outcome, he has been preparing his daughter since the moment he took her home that her mother wasn't dead. But that was just pictures. He doesn't even know if Tali would recognize the same person from the pictures to the woman in life.

After settling his stomach, he makes the call. "Palmer, I need you to do me a favour…"

An hour later, he's in the cafeteria, sipping on a coffee with the paper plate of a muffin sitting in front of him. It was the only thing he has eaten today, but he figured that now it was after dinner time, he needed to consume some kind of food. This just seemed to be his poison of choice.

"Aba!" Tali greets as she runs up to his chair. His smile didn't have to be faked when he sees her for the first time in two days. Yes, he had called her multiple times a day, and receiving texts from Jimmy's phone with her name assigned to it. But being able to hold her, it was almost overwhelming. "Are you okay, Aba? Why are you in a hospital?" She asks, cocking her head at him. "Are you sick?" She asks, holding his large hand.

"No, _bambina_, I'm not sick."

She looks at him, confused, before looking over her shoulder at her uncle. "Why are we here, Aba?" She frowns, unable to keep still. He doesn't blame her; he remembers how Ziva could hardly keep still whenever she was restless for something to happen.

"Someone is here in this hospital, they want to see you." Tony looks up at Palmer, observing the interaction between father and daughter. His eyes meet the darkening eyes of Tali's before he continues. "Someone who means a lot to me." Tali smiles shyly, but she doesn't say anything. "Can you meet her for me?"

"Yes Aba."

Jimmy stood outside the room with Tali as Tony walks into the hospital room. She was still asleep, but if she wants to get to see her little girl, he has to wake her up. Quietly he steps closer to the side of her bed, taking ahold of her hand, he brushes her hair out of her face. "Ziva." He whispers, but she didn't wake. He presses his lips to her head, then he speaks a little loud. "Ziva."

"Hm." She moans, coming out of her unconsciousness.

"It's time to wake up, someone is here to see you." His voice is soft, but it was able to get her to open her eyes. He looks into her tired chocolate eyes, staring into them as she comes to. "I had asked Palmer to bring Tali by after dinner."

That got her attention. "Tali?"

"Yes." He whispers, kissing her forehead again. "I'll give you a couple minutes to wake up before I bring her in."

Ziva squeezes her eyes shut for a second before opening them wide, allowing the light in the room to wake her up. She peeks outside the room, to see if she can see her daughter, and Tony couldn't help but smile at her. He helps her sit up, raising the bed up to help her rest against it.

Ziva watches as Tony walks out of the room to bring their daughter in. In the minute he was gone, her heart races more and more by every thought that runs by her mind's eyes. She fears nothing more than the rejection by her own daughter.

Her eyes shift nervously around the room when she feels like he was gone too long. What if he had left her? What if Tali didn't want to see her? She is brought to her senses when she hears her heart monitor increase. She couldn't panic now, not when she could still see Tony's back through the window. Not when the nurses could come in at any moment and delay their meeting.

Where was her anxiety medication when she needed it?

The movement from outside the room draws her attention to Tony and Tali walking through the door. She is silent as she watches Tony take their daughter's hand and leads her to her bedside. But her heart raced on.

"_Bambina,_" Tony starts, looking down at Tali. "Remember when you first met me?" He asks, kneeling down to her height, eye to eye. The little girl nods slowly, unsure where he was going with this. "Before you were with Aba, you had lived with Ima before the bad guys came to hurt her."

Ziva watches closely as Tali takes in the information, though recognition was in her eyes. "Ima, like in the pictures at home?"

"Yes, like in the pictures. Do you remember what Ima looks like?" She nods, looking back and forth between the two adults in the room. "What does Ima look like?" He asks.

Tali looks at Ziva, keeping her hands at her side. "Almost like her…" She says, before looking back at her father. "Except her hair, it's almost like mine, but darker."

"Almost?" He asks, looking up at his partner. "What if I pulled out a picture of your Ima, would you be able to remember?"

Tali nods, looking at Ziva again.

Tony pulls out his wallet and opens it, he pulls out an old photo and holds it up in front of her. Ziva can't see what's on it, but the furrowed brows of the little girl gives her the hint that it was of her and Tony from years ago. Suddenly Tali gasps. "Ima has hair like mine!" Then she looks up, meeting Ziva's eyes. "Is she my Ima?"

Ziva stays silent.

"Yes Tali." Tony whispers. "This woman is your Ima."

"But you said Ima was busy being a superhero?" Ziva wants to laugh and sob at the same time. But she holds her breath.

Tony chuckles lightly, resting his hand on her back. "Yes _bambina_, but Ima is done fighting super villains. She can come home now."

"She can?" Tony nods. Quietly, Tali asks. "Can I ask her to come home with us?" Ziva covers her mouth as a sob lets out, catching the attention of the father-daughter duo. Tony nods, rising to his feet. He lifts the child onto the bed beside her mother.

Finally, Ziva speaks to her daughter for the first time since she promised the toddler that her Ima will be back, that she'll protect her forever. The memory brings a small tear to her eye, but here was her not-so-little girl, right before her. Softly, Ziva speaks. "Hi, _yaldati_." The tears in Ziva's eyes start to flow and a smile is brought to her face when she sees Tali's eyes light up.

Tali looks back at her father, smiling, receiving a nod from Tony, she turns back to her. "Shalom, Ima." Ziva's heart stops. She wasn't sure if Tali remembers the Hebrew Ziva had taught her as an infant, or if Tony had been honouring her and had her take classes while she was also learning French. "Don't be sad." She says, reaching forward to wipe a tear away.

"Oh, _yaldati_, I am not sad."

"Then why are you crying?"

"These are happy tears, Talia." Ziva says, her heart skipping a beat as she says her daughter's given name. "I am really happy to see you again."

Tali leans forward. "You're not going to go away again?"

Ziva sniffles. "No, _yaldati_, I will not ever leave you again."

"You promise?" Tali asks, holding out her pinky. "Pinky promise?"

She laughs, glancing over at her partner. "_Ken __yaldati_, I promise." And grabs ahold of her daughters finger with her own.

Suddenly Tali turns to her father. "You hear that, Aba? Ima's coming home!"


End file.
